Cordova’s recent innovation captured in a white paper
Cordova, Alaska from the air showing harbor and mountains.
August 4, 2024
Cordova, Alaska sits at the mouth of the Copper River, one of the world’s premier salmon fisheries. Its utility, the , has long been an electric utility pioneer with innovative technology advances in run-of-the-river hydro optimization, battery energy storage and the undergrounding of power lines years before this latter infrastructure approach was embraced by much larger utilities in the continental U.S.
The cooperative’s latest innovation responds to the need to satisfy runaway demand for new data infrastructure driven by exponential growth in artificial intelligence, or AI, applications. CEC’s key technology partner for deployment of a 150 kW modular edge data center powered by excess hydropower capacity is .
Edge data centers are small, decentralized facilities that offer computing and storage services closer to where data is generated and consumed. Based in San Francisco, Greensparc’s mission is delivering data services to the world’s data disenfranchised in the most efficient and sustainable manner possible.
“Combining edge modular data centers with remote, renewable-based microgrids can serve as a model not only for other parts of Alaska, but for much of the rest of the world,” said Sam Enoka, CEO of Greensparc.
“Due to their smaller scale and modular design elements, edge data centers represent an ideal opportunity to move away from conventional diesel-based uninterruptible power supply systems to a more resilient, cost-effective and sustainable business model revolving around clean on-site generation and energy storage assets,” said Clay Koplin, CEO of Cordova Electric Cooperative.
He noted that just as the surge in electricity demand linked to AI makes edge data centers a global necessity, this same AI technology can also improve microgrid performance.
The white paper “,” co-authored by Koplin, Enoka and Peter Asmus, executive director of the , lays out four primary benefits of co-locating edge data centers within remote microgrids:
● Reduced cost
● Improved application performance and uptime
● Better governance and compliance
● More accurate environmental reporting